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Do we have black boxes?

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Old Jul 14, 2003 | 01:00 AM
  #1  
Robert Schrader's Avatar
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Do we have black boxes?

I read an article in the newspaper that said that lots of new cars now have a black box that records speed, control inputs, etc which can be used against you after an accident. Do we have them?
Thanks.
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 08:18 AM
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No we don't. Don't take the newspaper article too seriously.
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 08:34 AM
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Originally posted by viper
No we don't. Don't take the newspaper article too seriously.
It's not just the article...the guy is going to jail becuase he killed those two girls...and his car 'told' them he was going over 100mph in a residential zone.

Erik
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 03:50 PM
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Originally posted by viper
No we don't. Don't take the newspaper article too seriously.
YES The LATE Mercedes DO In Fact have Stored memory
That CAN Be retrieved at a later date
Such as SPEED,RPM,Date,etc....
I have Seen mercedes factory reps Pull the Info on a Couple
of cars re a warranty claim... Its There!



The Bad Thing is IF...The Insurance Company People
get this They will Use It against us...Speeding/reckless etc.


Need a Small hand Held TESTOR to delete this Stored Crap!
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 09:32 PM
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This is a very interesting topic and may even bring up personal rights issues.

BMW used info from their system to deny E46 M3 motor repairs. (RPM data as I recall).

If you are a gambling man you can bet that the data is there for big brother to use. Whether they will or not is .....?

Some can be erased (reset) with a OBD scanner, I would suppose some may not. We don't really know much about "what" they are able to log.
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 09:46 PM
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Originally posted by rrf
BMW used info from their system to deny E46 M3 motor repairs. (RPM data as I recall).
Yeah, BMWNA tried this until it became apparent that even SMG II equipped M3 cars had significant "overrevs" logged, a situation that was theoretically impossible. After that, BMWNA stopped denying claims for that reason. In fact all M3s have now been voluntarily recalled for internal engine upgrades, which was the real source of the "M3 engine fall down go boom!" syndrome.

This is an interesting topic. Big brother may be wathcing you. Or at least has the capability.

In Europe, all long-distance truckers have black boxes that record lots of data on a disc. One Italian trucker a few years ago actually ATE his, when pulled over by the cops in Germany on suspicion of exceeding 8 hours on the road No word if they waited for it to be pooped out.
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 10:41 PM
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Yes, Benz does have a black box of some sort. It can be very helpful for a lot of things. But if I had a choice I would rather not have it. Insurance company is my worst fear. Those *******s would use anything they can against you. Just drive safely from now on, black box wont matter then
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 10:48 PM
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Originally posted by BenzOwner02
Yes, Benz does have a black box of some sort. It can be very helpful for a lot of things. But if I had a choice I would rather not have it. Insurance company is my worst fear. Those *******s would use anything they can against you. Just drive safely from now on, black box wont matter then
well, see, i can drive safely, but be speeding as well. food for thought. anybody who has been on the 210 freeway after midnight, knows that you can be going 75 in the #2 lane, and not worry about catching up to traffic, or anybody going slower.
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 10:53 PM
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Nonsense, a couple of tickets and a court date will fix your attitude completely. Did miracles for me
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 11:21 PM
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um, straight out of the mouth of a chp officer "if the entire freeway is moving at 75, you wont get pulled over unless you start weaving, drifting, or just being plain stupid."

thus the reason why despite the multiple times when a cop has come up behind me at that time of night, and i've been going that speed, i have never gotten a ticket for it. i've gotten a ticket for going 55 in a 40, paid, did my traffic school and done. do i still speed? yes. do i get tickets for it? no. why? because driving responsibly and speeding can go together. it's only when you do stupid things (i.e. in my case, passing a car, on a heavily ticketed stretch of road, at the end of the month, i was just waiting to land into that speed trap. they had 4 cops set there to catch speeders.)
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Old Jul 16, 2003 | 11:31 PM
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Thats ok, some more tickets and a threat to suspend your liscense should the trick. I have faith in you, you will learn quick right after that
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Old Jul 17, 2003 | 01:03 AM
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Originally posted by BenzOwner02
...a threat to suspend your liscense should the trick. I have faith in you, you will learn quick right after that
that's ok, that's already happened, and guess what? i'm still driving. my mom always said i was thick-headed
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Old Jul 17, 2003 | 03:35 AM
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A lot of cars have them these days. They record speed and whatnot. They are particularly in break-ins. When a car shouldn't go above X speed in the first Y miles, they track that. So, if something happens to the engine later, the manufacturer can check this "black box" and see if you followed the break-in instructions.
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Old Jul 17, 2003 | 09:12 AM
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Originally posted by WyattH
A lot of cars have them these days. They record speed and whatnot. They are particularly in break-ins. When a car shouldn't go above X speed in the first Y miles, they track that. So, if something happens to the engine later, the manufacturer can check this "black box" and see if you followed the break-in instructions.

Thats reccomended, not required. I hit my 135 limit on the first night with my car. IMO, they are ready to run from day 1.

Erik
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Old Jul 17, 2003 | 09:31 AM
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Originally posted by MARK CUMMINS
YES The LATE Mercedes DO In Fact have Stored memory
That CAN Be retrieved at a later date
Such as SPEED,RPM,Date,etc....
I have Seen mercedes factory reps Pull the Info on a Couple
of cars re a warranty claim... Its There!



The Bad Thing is IF...The Insurance Company People
get this They will Use It against us...Speeding/reckless etc.


Need a Small hand Held TESTOR to delete this Stored Crap!
MB does not have a black box - not in the true definition of a black box. The engine computer will record high and low limits in a dynamic file (vmax, rmax, etc) but this is a circular file that gets overwritten. I don't know how many values it saves until it overwrites them but it is not too many. You people that claim big brother is watching have been watching too much television. If MB recorded as much as some of you assume most of you would have your warranty voided by now.
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Old Jul 17, 2003 | 10:05 AM
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Originally posted by viper
MB does not have a black box - not in the true definition of a black box. The engine computer will record high and low limits in a dynamic file (vmax, rmax, etc) but this is a circular file that gets overwritten. I don't know how many values it saves until it overwrites them but it is not too many. You people that claim big brother is watching have been watching too much television. If MB recorded as much as some of you assume most of you would have your warranty voided by now.
Agreed.

In the case of the accident, however, it was the last recorded speed, which was over 100mph in a residential zone...

Erik
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